ALL ABOARD! Bruins ride hot start to rout of host Chieftains

Sunday

SAPULPA — If the ubiquitous football gods ever issue a manual, the chapter about perfect starts will be only three words long: Bartlesville vs. Sapulpa.

Bartlesville High School head coach John McKee couldn’t have game-planned a better beginning than the one his Bruins displayed Friday night.

Forget the verbiage (that comes later).

Here are the basic facts:

Bartlesville’s first three possessions — 175 yards net, 12 first downs, three touchdowns, a field goal, 24 points.

Sapulpa’s first three possessions — nine yards net, no first downs, three punts, zero points.

You get the idea.

Bartlesville went on to bend, fold, spindle and otherwise rip apart the Sapulpa Chieftains, 51-28, in the District 6A-II-2 clash.

Wait.

Twenty-eights given up?

Yep.

But, Sapulpa produced three of those touchdowns on just three big plays — an 88-yard kickoff return and passes of 58 and 28 yards.

The Chieftains mounted just one major drive on the night — covering 80 yards in 14 plays and 6:09 — on the otherwise energized Bruin defense.

And, the Bruins led, 24-0, before Sapulpa scored its first points.

“The defense played really well tonight,” said McKee, who witnessed his Bruins (3-3, 2-1) win back-to-back games for the first time this season and also inject themselves firmly into the hunt for the playoffs. “Our offense but them in a bad situation a couple of times and we had a couple of breakdowns, but we were able to make the adjustments we needed.”

Offensively?

Well, again the numbers tell the story — 17-of-36 passing for 239 yards and three touchdowns for quarterback Garrett Meidl; 88 and 72 yards rushing, respectively, by Joe Lard and DeAndre Young; eight catches for 117 yards and two scores by A.J. Archambo; and four catches for 55 yards by Brayden Mayhew.

“The continuity of our offensive line is huge for us,” said McKee. “We ran the ball really well tonight. … Garrett is feeling more comfortable … which makes a big difference for us.”

And how.

Meidl’s first five completions in the game were to five different receivers.

And … well, more about that in a minute.

Bartlesville’s defense opened the game by forcing Sapulpa into a three-and-punt — in a possession that lasted just 1:01.

The Bruins then mounted a 49-yard drive, which ended with a 28-yard field goal by Meidl.

Early in the match, Young had bullied forward for six yards — on a 3rd-and-4 play — to keep it going.

After Sapulpa went three-and-done — in just 31 seconds — on its next touch, the Bruins Quickly drove down for their first touchdown, scored on a 16-yard strike from Meidl to John Cone, who burst down the middle of the field to make the catch. Andre Johnson added the extra point. Johnson finished 6-for-6 on extra point kicks — one of the conversion attempts was derailed by a bad snap.

Bartlesville then pulled off a surprise — a déjà vu tribute to the past — with an onside kick.

Actually, McKee had method to his risk. A penalty on the touchdown play meant the Bruins got to kick off from the Sapulpa 45-yard line. Even had the onside kick failed, Sapulpa still would have had a long field to drive.

But, the ploy worked, anyway, as Robert Boyle recovered the onside kick for Bartlesville.

The Bruin offense needed just three plays to stick the ball in the end zone — on an explosive thrust up the middle by Lard. While he was going down in front of the goal line, Lard propelled himself forward — off powerful legs — and landed in the end zone.

It was just 7:30 into the game and Bartlesville already led, 17-0.

After Sapulpa suffered another short possession and punt, the Bruins swept down the field again — 56 yards in seven plays — to cash in again on Lard’s second touchdown run.

He sliced through an alley off-left tackle into paydirt, with 1:09 remaining in the first quarter.

Sapulpa — which played with plenty of heart of determination in front of its Homecoming crowd — answered with an 80-yard push in 14 plays. Chieftain quarterback Cameron Elder carried it the final six yards into the end zone.

Bartlesville answered with two touchdowns — one on a 10-yard laser shot from Meidl to Archambo, the other on a five-yard bruising burst by Young.

On the Archambo score, the 6-foot-4 receiver ran a fade to the left side of the end zone, twisted around — with a defender on him tighter than a blister — and hauled in the catch.

Young’s touchdown was set up when the Bruin defense forced Sapulpa to turn the ball over on downs, on its 47-yard line.

But, Sapulpa had one more trick left.

Following Young’s touchdown, Sapulpa’s Trevin Inks brought the kickoff back 88 yards for a score — with just 17.4 left in the first half.

The Bruins charged into intermission with a 37-14 advantage.

Not much changed in the second half, as both teams scored 14 points. Archambo snared another aerial — this one covering 10 yards — on an inside post slant for his second score. Meidl finished off the points’ parade on a 15-yard naked bootleg, with 5:35 left in the game.

Sapulpa (0-7, 0-4) scored its second half touchdowns on two long throws, of 28 and 58 yards.

Next up, the Bruins hit the road Thursday to play at Bixby (4-3, 2-1).